జాయింట్ డైరెక్టర్ లక్ష్మి నారాయణ స్పీచ్

        జాయింట్ డైరెక్టర్ V.V లక్ష్మి నారాయణ గారు విధి నిర్వహణలో సమర్థులే కాదు వాక్పటిమ గలవారు కూడా అని IMPACT 2013 కార్యక్రమంలో వారి ప్రసంగం చూస్తే అర్థమౌతుంది. భాష లో స్పష్టత , భావం లో వైశిష్ట్యత అలాగే తెలుగు భాష మీద వారికున్న మక్కువ ప్రస్పుటంగా కనిపిస్తాయి. విద్యార్థులకే కాదు ఎ రంగంలోనివారినైనా ఉత్తేజ పరిచేవిధంగా మాబాగా చెప్పారు.



ప్రసంగం లోంచి మచ్చుకి కొన్ని :

1. తనను తెలుసుకున్నవాడు తత్వజ్ఞుడు
    పరులను తెలుసుకున్నవాడు పరమగ్నుడు
    అంతు తెలియదన్నవాడు ఆత్మగ్నుడు
    అన్నీ తెలుసనుకున్నవాడు అల్పగ్నుడు

2.  మంచి గుమ్మడి కన్నా దంచిన యెఱ్ఱని
     క్రొవ్వడ బియ్యపు కూడు కన్నా
     మేల్ జహంగీరు మామిడి పండు కన్నా
     సుజ కారిన లేసజ్జ కంకి కన్నా
     కమియ పండిన ద్రాక్ష కన్నా, చక్కెర తగ
     బోసి వండిన పాల బువ్వ కన్నా
     రసదాడి కన్నా, పనస తొన కన్నా
     ఖజూరపు కన్నను జూన్ను కన్నను
     అలతి పెరతేనియల కన్నను ఆమని తఱి
     కొసరి కూసిడి కోయిల కూత కన్నను
     ముద్దులొలికెడు జవరాలి మోవి కన్నా
     తియ్యనైనదెదయ్య అంటే అదే తెలుగు భాష
                                                  - ముదిగొండ వీరభద్రమూర్తి

3.  ప్రపంచానికి సంస్కారాన్ని సంస్కృతిని , భారతదేశ ఔన్నత్యాన్ని చాటి చెప్పిన మహానుభావుడు  
    వివేకానంద. సమాజానికి అలాంటి వివేకానందుల అవసరముంది కాబట్టి ప్రతి సంవత్సరం ఒక 30 
    మంది వివేకానందులను తయారుచేయడం నా జీవితాశయం అని చెప్పారు.

4. దేహముంది ప్రాణముంది నెత్తురుంది సత్తువుంది ఇంతకంటే సైన్యముండునా..!!
                                                                                                 -సిరివెన్నెల

శివ మానస పూజ

శ్రీ ఆదిశంకరాచార్యులవారు భాష్యాలు, వేదాంత వివరణలతో పాటు అనేక స్తోత్రాలు రచించారు. వాటిలో శివ మానస పూజా స్తోత్రం ప్రత్యేకమైనది. వేదాంత తత్వాన్ని  ఔపోసన పట్టి వాటి సారాన్నంతా ఐదు శ్లోకాలలో చెప్పడం శంకర భాగవత్పాదులవారికే  చెల్లింది. ఏ భౌతిక సాధనాలు లేకుండా కేవలం మానసికంగానే ఎంత  గొప్పగా దేవతారాధన చేయవచ్చో శివ మానస పూజా స్తోత్రం ద్వారా చెప్పారు.
 

స్తోత్రం:

రత్నైః కల్పితమాసనం హిమజలైః స్నానం చ దివ్యాంబరం
నానారత్న విభూషితం మృగమదా మోదాంకితం చందనమ్ |
జాతీ చంపక బిల్వపత్ర రచితం పుష్పం చ ధూపం తథా
దీపం దేవ దయానిధే పశుపతే హృత్కల్పితం గృహ్యతామ్ || 1 ||

సౌవర్ణే నవరత్నఖండ రచితే పాత్రే ఘృతం పాయసం
భక్ష్యం పంచవిధం పయోదధియుతం రంభాఫలం పానకమ్ |
శాకానామయుతం జలం రుచికరం కర్పూర ఖండోజ్జ్చలం
తాంబూలం మనసా మయా విరచితం భక్త్యా ప్రభో స్వీకురు || 2 ||

ఛత్రం చామరయోర్యుగం వ్యజనకం చాదర్శకం నిర్మలం
వీణా భేరి మృదంగ కాహలకలా గీతం చ నృత్యం తథా |
సాష్టాంగం ప్రణతిః స్తుతి-ర్బహువిధా-హ్యేతత్-సమస్తం మయా
సంకల్పేన సమర్పితం తవ విభో పూజాం గృహాణ ప్రభో || 3 ||

ఆత్మా త్వం గిరిజా మతిః సహచరాః ప్రాణాః శరీరం గృహం
పూజా తే విషయోపభోగ-రచనా నిద్రా సమాధిస్థితిః |
సంచారః పదయోః ప్రదక్షిణవిధిః స్తోత్రాణి సర్వా గిరో
యద్యత్కర్మ కరోమి తత్తదఖిలం శంభో తవారాధనమ్ || 4 ||

కర చరణ కృతం వాక్కాయజం కర్మజం వా
శ్రవణ నయనజం వా మానసం వాపరాధమ్ |
విహితమవిహితం వా సర్వమేతత్-క్షమస్వ
జయ జయ కరుణాబ్ధే శ్రీ మహాదేవ శంభో || 5 ||




హరిహరపురం లోని శ్రీ ఆదిశంకరాచార్య శారద లక్ష్మి నరసింహ పీఠం, ప్రస్తుత మఠాధిపతులు శ్రీ స్వయంప్రకాశ సచ్చిదానంద సరస్వతి వారు స్తోత్రాలు చాలా స్పష్టంగా భక్తీ పారవశ్యంతో చదువుతారు. వారు ఆలపించిన శివ మానస పూజా స్తోత్రం ఇక్కడ పొందుపరుస్తున్నాను.

Here's to the Crazy Ones...

" Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do ".

Steve Jobs version
Lee Clow the creative genius who had created the "1984" ad was the one again who created this iconic  "Think different" ad for Apple. ' It was designed to celebrate not what the computers could do, but what creative people could do with computers' Says Walter Issacson in his book 'Steve Jobs' about this ad. Its amazing to know that Steve himself has written some of the lines including "They push the human race forward". The ad featured most of Job's personal heroes who were Creative and crazy enough to put their careers at risk on doing things differently.


The one-minute commercial featured black-and-white footage of 17 iconic 20th century personalities. In order of appearance they were: Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon (with Yoko Ono), Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso. The commercial ends with an image of a young girl opening her closed eyes, as if making a wish. The final clip is taken from the All Around The World version of the "Sweet Lullaby" music video, directed by Tarsem Singh; the young girl is Shaan Sahota, Singh's niece.

The voiceover for the one which was aired was by Richard Dreyfuss.

Links: Think Different Wikipedia

The Valentine's Day Clue

First of all Thanks to Ms.Rupali for selecting to send me a Goodreads giveaway.

 There are few novels in Mystery or suspense genre in Indian writing in English. Rupali Rotti ventures into this less trodden path for her debut novel The Valentine's Day Clue. It is the coming of age story of two college going youngsters who want to be detectives. They are presented with a real world case when one of their friends is bashed up a day after the valentine's day. So the novel is not only about how they solve the case by gathering help from friends but also learn tricks of the trade in the process.

What I liked about the book is Ms. Rupali has a casual style of writing and is mostly successful in holding the suspense throughout. Book left me wanting go on a trek to Sinhagad and explore the caves. Chapters are crisp and language is simple. She took care not to complicate the plot there by making it a very nice and easy read. I read it in a single day, partly because I wanted to send feedback to Rupali and partly because it was such an easy read.

At times there is too much detailing and that seems to be deliberate to make it easy for international readers. I felt she could have used more depth in emotional conflicts to add more drama. Before reading the book 'Nayak brothers' struck me as mature sleuths, going into the book I had to set my expectations right. It had been a long time I had read about young amateur detectives on trail and somehow after reading, it reminded me of Doordarshan's 'ek do teen chaar', which still is one of my favorite teen detective serials.

On the whole it is a decent first novel. Choosing a young detective genre and engage the reader is quite a challenge and author must be commended for her honest efforts. Rupali and Nayak brothers are here for the long haul and hope they keep enthralling the readers in their subsequent adventures.

Simply Fly -- A Deccan odyssey

Captain Gopinath, an Army man, a farmer, an entrepreneur and above all as is evident from his book 'Simply Fly' he is a fascinating story teller. He liberally draws from his rich experience to tell his story. In the introduction he calls his autobiography  as ‘just a simple story of a poor boy who after doing myriad things in life built India's largest airline’.

His narration starts off with his growing days by the river Hemavathy, schooling followed by his Army days. After 1000km hitch-hiking trip in USA, true to his adventure spirit he quits Army and takes up farming. After a brief dabbling in business & politics and nearly ten years of farming he moves to Bangalore. Rest of the book is all about unfolding of events from starting of Deccan Aviation, Venturing into Deccan Airlines, its growth and eventual merger and downfall.

Gopi's Farm days are filled with grit and a bit of wild streak. He speaks so candidly about his farming days that one could smell the fragrance of soil in his narration. He also humors the reader with his crazy urge to tame donkeys. “Whether you are in the Army or in civil life, putting your men before you, will always lead you the way" says Captain JS Verma to him and Capt. Gopi seems to have followed it through out.

Stories during his Deccan Aviation days like the one about Anne Sahib's grandson, who wants to revive the family tradition or Kavya's story are heart touching. Likewise John Gray and his devotion to Swami Kaleshwar and Pilot cum Companion Jayanth's request to Swami are amusing, incredible and funny to say the least. Going by the book Capt.Gopinath has natural flair for entrepreneurship and the way he makes his deals and takes bureaucracy head on displays his keen business acumen. His philosophy of "The way out of difficulty is not frustration, not fear nor despair" must have worked big time for him. There is a reason why APJ Abdul Kalam says in his foreword that "this book should be an eminently suitable guide for entrepreneurs and could be prescribed as a text book in all the management and entrepreneurial development institutions in the country, since it is an Indian experience".

I personally was looking forward to read Gopinath's association with Mr. King of good times. He holds it back till the last and left me asking for more. Reading  "Simply Fly" was a truly enriching experience for me and I highly recommend it.

కాలోయం బ్రహ్మ

ఏ వ్యక్తీ ఒకే నదిలో రెండుసార్లు స్నానం చెయలేడన్నది గ్రీకు తత్వవేత్త హెరాక్లిటస్ ప్రసిద్ధ వాక్యాలలో ఒకటి. దీనికి, నీరు మారడం ఒక కారణమైతే, కాలం మారడం మరో కారణం. హెన్రీ బెర్గ్ సన్  తత్వ వాదాన్ని చెబుతూ నండూరి రామమోహన రావు గారు తమ విశ్వదర్శనం లో కాలం గురించి ఇలా వివరిస్తారు :

“ కాలం రెండు రకాలైనది. ఒకటి బాహిరమైన, భౌతిమైన కాలం. రెండవది అంతరమైన, మానసికమైన కాలం. మొదటి రకం కాలం గడియారంలో ముళ్ళ కదలికనుబట్టి తెలుస్తుంది. లేదా రాత్రింబవళ్ళ మార్పు, ఋతుచక్ర బ్రమనం వల్ల తెలుస్తుంది (blogger: ఋతురాగాలు చూస్తే తెలిసేది కాదేమో. క్షమించాలి ఆపుకోలేకపోయా). అది మనం కృత్రిమంగా గంటలు, నిముషాలు, సెకెండ్లు అని విభజించిన కాలం. అది వట్టి కల్పితకాలం. అది అసలు కాలం కాదు. మన అవసరార్థం ఈ విభజన చేసుకున్నాము”

ఇప్పుడైతే సెకెండ్లు, నిముషాలు, గంటలతో సరిపెట్టుకుంటున్నాం గాని వేద కాలం లో ఈ విభజన చాలా సూక్ష్మంగా వుండేది. నరుని కొలమానం కాలానికి సరిపోవడం లేదంటారు వేదం జీవననాదం లో దాశరథి రంగాచార్య గారు. అందులోనే, పరమాణువు నుంచి ప్రళయం దాకా భారతీయులు కాలానికి కట్టిన లెక్కలు ఇలా వున్నాయి :
సూర్యుడు పరమాణువును ఆక్రమించిన కాలం పరమాణువు. సృష్టిలో అతి సూక్ష్మ పదార్థం పరమాణువు.
2  పరమాణువులు - 1 అణువు, 3 అణువులు - ఒక త్రసరేణువు , 3 త్రసరేణువులు - ఒక త్రుటి,
100 త్రుటులు - 1  వేధ , 3 వేధలు - ఒక లవం , 3 లవములు - ఒక నిమేషం (ఇది మనం వాడుతున్న మినిట్ నిమిషం కాదు, ఇది సెకెనులో 16 /75 వ భాగం ), 3 నిమేషములు - ఒక క్షణం, 5 క్షణాలు - 1 కాష్ట,

10 కాష్టలు - ఒక లఘువు , 15 లఘువులు - ఒక గడియ , ఏడున్నర గడియలు - ఒక జాము ,
8 జాములు - ఒక రోజు, 15 రోజులు - ఒక పక్షం , 2 పక్షాలు - ఒక నెల , 2 నెలలు - ఒక ఋతువు
3 ఋతువులు - ఒక అయనం, 2 అయనాలు (ఉత్తర , దక్షిణ) - ఒక మానవ సంవత్సరం ,
17 ,28 ,000 సంవత్సరాలు - కృతయుగం , 12,96,000 సంవత్సరాలు - త్రేతాయుగం
8,64,000 సంవత్సరాలు - ద్వాపరం , 4,32,000 సంవత్సరాలు - కలియుగం
4 యుగాల మొత్తం కాలం 43,20,000 సంవత్సరాలు , సృష్టి కాలం 1000 x 4 యుగాలు

నిరంతరం మారుతూ వుండేది కాలం. అజేయమైన కాలం ప్రవాహం లాంటిది. అందుకే “కాలోయం బ్రహ్మ” అన్నారు. ఎన్ని సూక్ష్మ లెక్కలున్నా కాలప్రవాహాన్ని దర్శించలేము. ఈ క్షణాల పరంపరని ప్రత్యక్షంగా వీక్షించనూలేము, అనుభవించాల్సిందే. అందుకే రెండవదాన్ని మానసికమైన కాలం అని అనుకున్నాం. ఇది మన మనస్సుకే అనుభవైకవేద్యమైన కాలం.

“ భౌతిక కాలం అనేది క్షణాల దొంతర. అది వింటికి సందించిన బాణం వలె ఒకే దిశలో ముందుకే పోతుంది.  మానసిక కాలం అలా కాదు. అది జ్ఞాపకాల రూపంలో వెనక్కి, ఊహల రూపంలో ముందుకు ఎటు పడితే అటు కదులుతుంది. మనం మనస్సు అట్టడుగు పొరలలో వున్న జ్ఞాపకాలనైన సరే, మన నిత్య వ్యవహారానికి అవసరమైనప్పుడు, అవసరమైనవాటిని, పైకి తవ్వి తీసుకువచ్చి ఉపయోగించుకుంటాము” అంటారు నండూరివారు (రామమోహన రావు).

ఆర్నాల్డ్ బెన్నెట్ తమ `How to live on 24 hours a day` అనే పుస్తకంలో  కాలం రోజువారి అద్బుతం ( Daily Miracle ) అని చాలా చక్కగా, చమత్కారంగా ఇలా వర్ణిస్తారు. “పొద్దున్న లేవగానే కాలం మన పర్సులో 24 గంటలును ప్రసాదిస్తుంది. గొప్పవాళ్ళు, మేధావులని ఒక క్షణం ఎక్కుగాని, అధములు,  పనికిమాలినవాళ్లు అని ఒక క్షణం తక్కువగాని వుండదు. సర్వులూ సమానమే. అరువు తెచ్చుకోవడం, దాచుకోవడం, దోచుకోవడం లాంటి  సౌలభ్యాలు అసలు వుండవు. చేతిలోని క్షణాన్నీ మాత్రమే కర్చు చేసుకోగలం. పని రాక్షసులైన , సోమరులైన తమ మరుసటి కోటా పదిలం. ఈ కోటాను ఎలా సద్వినియోగం చేసుకుంటాం అనే దాన్ని బట్టే మన ఆయుః , ఆరోగ్య, ఐశ్వర్యాలతో పాటు మన సుఖ సంతోషాలు ఆధారపడి వుంటాయి”.   దీన్ని బట్టి కాలానికి మించిన సమవర్తి లేదని మనం అర్థంచేసుకోవచ్చు. ప్రతీ క్షణాన్ని మైమరచి అస్వాదించడంలోనే అందము ఆనందమూ దాగివున్నాయి. కాలమే సత్యము, శివము, సుందరము.

 

Testing Bapu Fonts

ముళ్ళపూడి  అడ్డమైన రాతలు

1.      ఆరోగ్యమే  మహాభాగ్యము  ఈ  వాక్యం చదవడానికి  రెండు సెకండ్లు  అర్థమవడానికి – 60 ఏళ్ళు . కళ్ళు పళ్ళు కీళ్ళు ఒళ్ళు రేపెరుకు వస్తూంటే కొంచెం కొంచెం బోధపడుతుంది

2.      ఋతువుల్లో వసంతం నేనే మాసాల్లో మార్గశిరం నేనే  మృగాల్లో సింహాన్ని నేనే పక్షుల్లో గరుడుడు నేనే  పురుషుల్లో మహాపురుషుడు నేనే – వినయం కాస్త తక్కువ లా  వుంది కదా ?

3.      వంకరటింకర – శో , వాని  తమ్ముడు – అ , నల్లాగుడ్లా – మీ, నాలుక్కాళ్ళ – మే

4.      దొంగలంటే  - పూర్వం గోడకి కన్నంవేసే సన్నకారు దొంగాలేకాని  నేడు దొంగల్లో దొరలు దొరల్లో దొంగలు దూరిపోయి కిటకిటలాడిపోతున్నారు

Inches Count

This video is a brilliant speech by Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday (partly cropped) coupled with montage visuals. Inspiring.

Speech:

You know when you get old in life
things get taken from you.
That's, that's part of life.
But,
you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half a step too late or to early
you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone else around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know
when we add up all those inches
that's going to make the fucking difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this
in any fight
it is the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know
if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.

You gotta look at the guy next to you.
Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy
who will sacrifice himself for this team
because he knows when it comes down to it,
you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen

Tanikella Bharani Short Films

Tanikella Bharani is a Prolific writer and versatile actor in Telugu. I am a big fan of Bharani the writer and poet. What few people know is that he is a director as well. He has directed award winning short films. First of his short films is Sira (Ink). Blue Cross and The Last Farmer followed. Another one by name Key was in the pipeline, not sure what has happened to it. Now he is busy making a feature film Mithunam with SPB and Lakshmi. Though it is not very difficult to find his short films on internet, I thought I'll put all of his works and a couple of interviews in a single blogpost so that it might help all Bharani fans.

Sira

Sira is surrealistic independent art film. You can read Sirasri's brilliant review and explanation of Sira here

Blue Cross

Blue cross won an award at Hyderabad International Film Festivals. It is based on Bharani's poem 'Chilaka Prasna'

The Last Farmer

 The Last Farmer is 1 minute short film on the sorry state of famers. It is presented by VV Vinayak. 

 

 

 

Grahanam

 If you haven't watched Grahanam, Please watch this National award winning movie now.

 

Tanikella Shankara Bharanam

I think this is a must watch. Bharani speaks candidly about his plans to start 'Kaviki Kanakabhishekam'.  Listen while he mentions about Gadwal sansthanam tradition of honouring poets. Also listen to the melodious rendering of kalidasa's Ashwadhati. If he says then it must be true, Poets are unauthorised ambassadors of Society.

Open Heart With RK 

 

Jovial interview. True to the name of the show its a very open hearted talk by Bharani. RK would not have enjoyed any other interview more than this. Do watch it.
రచయిత, దర్శకుడు కలిసి అందమైన కాపురం చేయకపోతే, మంచి పిల్లాడు పుట్టడు -- భరణి




For comphrehensive info on Tanikella Bharani visit :- http://www.tanikellabharani.com/tanikella.htm

My Favorite Touching Scenes

Leader -- old man scene 

 

 

 One of the very few touching scenes coming out from telugu movies. One can see shekar's honest story telling in this scene. Dialogues, background score and every other thing has come out exceedingly well to make it an outstanding scene in the entire movie. Just love to watch it any number of times. All of two minutes but leaves a deep impact. Watch out when the old man says 'Maaku nammakam ledu dora' and 'vaddhu saar bassulo potham, naluguru vuntaru' conveys so much and stirs your heart.

Swades -- money recovery scene

 

There are very few scenes that I like of srk. This one's brilliant. Protagonist goes on to recover money and ends up lending again. I have not seen a scene wherein State of poverty has been captured more poignantly than this on celluloid in recent times.

Gajini -- selling the cars scene

 

One of the keys reasons for the Gajini's success in all three languages is the character sketch of Asin's character Kalpana. This scene where she lends money for Manu's mom after selling the cars is heart warming. This makes the character even more lovable and the scene beautiful.

Athadu -- confession scene

 

2:24:25 - 2:33:30

One of my favorite scenes. Power of very good writing can be seen.No one can conjure the words to evoke emotions like Trivikram. He brings out right doses of emotion with his words and simply mesmerises in this pre-climax scene. Nasser and Mahesh impress with their subtle performances. Also notice Nasser's room, full of books, I like that ambiance a lot.

Khadgam -- Hero drunk scene

1:33:30 - 1:37:42

Unlike Trivikram, Krishnavamsi is known for his over the top and chaotic performances. Somehow I did connect to this scene. It did bring a lump in my throat.  Life going haywire when you get to know what you shouldn't have and the concern of people who want you is touching about this scene.

Mozhi -- Realisation Scene

 
9:12 - 13:15

This is one of my favorite movies. There are many beautiful scenes in this movie, right from the word go. In this scene, karthik brings his neighbour to his senses, with harsh words. Bhaskar's character who refuses to accept his son's demise will finally realise the truth after many years. A scene which stays in your heart and a must watch movie.

Virodhi -- Ravi Varma and Myna leaving the cadre for better

 

Its a very simple scene and I can't really pinpoint why this should be in this list. All I can say is it deserves a place in this list. While watching it did move me immensely. May be you'll understand if you see it. Also look for this beautiful song in this movie " Adivamma vesinadhii pachchani paita" . Couldn't get a link for this.

Drama and Logic

    It is said that the makers of the classic Devadasu (ANR,1953) faced a dilemma while recording the songs. Jagame maya (జగమే మాయ బ్రతుకే మాయ) song had come out very well but they had some apprehensions about going with it in the final cut. Their logic was a drunkard speaks only gibber and words are mostly slurred. Here was a song full of wisdom, and the depressed drunk was singing it melodiously, will the audience accept.  Finally they went with it and the rest as they say it is history. As RGV quotes Alfred Hitchcock in one of his idiosyncratic reactions in his blog this is case of  “where drama begins logic ends”. Guess nobody questioned about the drunk being able to sing so flawlessly. RGV in the same answer brings up some more such instances from Shiva, Satya and Rangeela, where drama overtook logic. In another blog post, “Sculpting Emotions” he has this to say “The Director amalgamates all the arts into one wholesome experience which is intended to create an emotional impact on the audience. Watching a film should be an emotional experience. It should either make you laugh, or make you cry, or make you scared or make you feel like falling in love etc. A director’s craftsmanship is about his ability to create those moments. Crafting a scene is what for me is what purely the technical merit of a director should be judged by.

One Director who brings out the emotions so well is none other than SS Rajamouli. He is rightly called as Jakkanna for the way in which he sculpts his scenes.  In Magadheera, the emotions were brought out to the peaks in confrontation scenes between Bhairava and Sherkhan.

Sherkhan: ఎయి భైరవ,యువరాణిని వీడికిస్తానని మాటిచ్చా , దాన్ని తీసుకొచ్చి వీడి వొళ్ళో పెట్టి నా కాళ్ళకి సలాం కొట్టి పో , నిన్ను ప్రాణాలతో వదిలేస్తా
Bhairava: నేనూ నీకు మాటిస్తున్నా షేర్ఖాన్, ఆ రాజద్రోహి ని నాకప్పగించు, నిన్ను నీ సైన్యాన్ని ప్రాణాలతో వదిలేస్తా
Maansingh: శాహ్బాష్
Sherkhan: నాకు ప్రాణ బిక్ష పెడతావ, ఖుదా హు మే. నీ వొంట్లో రోషముంటే నీ కథలో నిజముంటే నా మనుషుల్ని వంద మంది ని పంపిస్తా దాని వంటి మీద చేయి పడకుండా ఆపు ఈ రాజ్యాన్ని ఆ రాణిని నీకే అప్పచెబుతా
Bhairava: వెన్ను చూపని వీరుల్ని ఏరుకుని మరీ పంపించు
Sherkhan: వాళ్ళను చూస్తేనే నువ్వు సగం చస్తావురా
Bhairava: ఎక్కువైనా పర్వాలేదు లెక్క తక్కువ కాకుండా చూసుకో
Sherkhan: వంద లో ఒక్కడు మిగిలిన నువ్వు ఒడినట్టే రా
Bhairava: ఒక్కొకన్ని  కాదు షేర్ఖాన్  వంద మంది ని ఒకేసారి రమ్మను

It is so popular that, if Lakshmi had to show action episodes of Rajamouli movies in her talk show with the director this was one of them. One testimony is the spoofs of this scene. Even in recent Dookudu, MS spoof says this ఒక్కొకన్ని  కాదు షేర్ఖాన్  వంద మంది ని ఒకేసారి రమ్మను

The point is, even if Sherkhan wanted to send 100 soldiers at a time he couldn’t have, as the pathway in front of them is so narrow, we see soldiers marching in pairs or at the max. only four would have marched at a time. So if Bhairava was serious about what he said he should have walked to the otherside or he should have waited till the 100 soldiers reached his side and started his fight. But everything is forgotten in the heat of emotion and subsequent fight sequence.Thats where Hitchcock's wisdom comes in “where drama begins logic ends”.

Now, all this looks so silly because the scene is so dramatic and  impact is so high, that if anybody had pointed out this then, would have made a fool of himself. Now that I have made one out of myself, I’ll rest my case.

http://rgvzoomin.com/sculpting-emotions/#
http://rgvzoomin.com/my-reactions-to-reactions-70/

ఏమంటివి ఏమంటివీ NTR dialogue in DVSK

Ever since I watched Rana say this dialogue in an interview, I wanted to get hold of the text for the same. I was searching for NTR's DVSK dialogue in Telugu but couldn't find one. Wanted to read it badly and only managed to get it in English. Now that I am smitten by the transliteration bug, thought I will transliterate it myself and here it is, enjoy.

ఆగాగు, ఆచార్య  దేవ హహహహ  హా  
ఏమంటివి  ఏమంటివీ , జాతి  నెపమున  సూత  సుతునకిందు నిలువ  అర్హత  లేదందువ? హ ఎంతమాట  ఎంతమా.ట 
ఇది  క్షాత్ర  పరీక్ష  కాని  క్షత్రియ  పరీక్షా  కాదే , కాదు  కాకూడదు,  ఇది కుల  పరీక్ష ఏ యందువ ,
ని  తండ్రి భరద్వాజుని జననమేట్టిది, అతి  జుగుప్సాకరమైన  నీ  సంభవమేట్టిది, మట్టి  కుండలో  పుట్టితివి  కదా  హహహ నిది  ఎ  కులమూ? 
ఇంత ఎలా? 
అస్మత్పితామహుడు  కురుకుల  వృద్దుడైన  ఈ శాంతనవుడు శివసముద్రల  భార్యయగు  గంగా గర్భమున  జనియించలేదా హహహ ? ఈయనదే  కులమో? హ్మ్ హ్మ్ హహాహ 
నాతో చెప్తుంటివేమయ్య ? 
మా  వంశమునకు  మూలపురుషుడైన  వశిష్టుడు  దేవ  వేశ్య  యగు    ఊర్వశీ పుత్రుడు  కాడా ? ఆతడు  పంచమ  జాతి  కన్యయైన  అరుంధతి  యందు  శక్తిని , ఆ  శక్తి   ఛండాలాంగన యందు  పరాశరుని , ఆ  పరాశరుడు  పల్లె  పడుచైన  మత్స్యగంధి యందు  మా  తాత  వ్యాసుని , ఆ  వ్యాసుడు  విధవరాండ్రైన  మా  పితామహి అంబికతో  మా  తండ్రిని , పినపితామహి అంబాలికతో  మా  పినతండ్రి  పాండురాజును, మా  ఇంటి  దాసితో  ధర్మ  నిర్మాణ  చరుడని  మీచే కీర్తించబడుతున్న  హ ఈ  విధుర దేవుని  కనలేదా? హహహాహ 
సందర్భావసరములను  బట్టి  క్షేత్ర , బీజ ప్రధాన్యములతో  సంకరమైన  మా  కురువంశము ఏనాడో   కుల  హీనమైనది .కాగా నేడు ఖు.లము  ఖు..లము అను   వియర్థ (వ్యర్థ)  వాదమెందులకు ? 

Buddha -- graphic novel by Osamu Tezuka

First of all a big thanks to my friend Punya for introducing me to Osamu Tezuka's graphic novel Buddha. Only books I have read on Buddha are  Herman Hesse's brilliant `Siddhartha` and Pankaj Mishra's, complex but compelling read `An end to suffering`. I have enjoyed reading both of them. But, for me none of them was as engrossing as Osamu Tezuka's `Buddha`.

Osamu Tezuka is Japanese manga artist. He is famously known as God/Father of manga, sometimes Godfather of manga. His popular works include Astroboy, Kimba the white lion, Pheonix and some such. Unfortunately most of his work is not yet translated from Japanese.

`Buddha` is a eight a eight volumed series namely 1.Kapilavastu, 2.The Four Encounters, 3.Devadatta, 4.The Forest of Uruvela, 5.Deer Park, 6.Ananda, 7.Prince Ajatasattu and 8.Jetavana. Publishers have done a commendable job by bringing each volume in unique appealing colour on the cover.

One day Punya just like that, he had never mentioned that he had such a series nor had we talked about it, gives me volume one of the series and asks me to read. I took time to finish the first one and some more time to finish the next volume. After that there was no stopping. Now I am done reading the 5 vols, rest 3 will be finishing very soon.

Buddha's life as such is very interesting. Osamu has added a couple of fictional characters and made it more dramatic. Illustrations are beautiful, characters are full of life and with free flowing pace this `Buddha` is a gradually endearing one. Great books are easy to read and difficult to get over the lingering feeling they leave on your minds. Great books also leave a void when you are finished reading them. This is exactly what  `Buddha` is doing to me with each volume. Felt happy to see Siddhartha Basu recommending this series in one of the NDTV's Just books programme, long before I started reading them. Indeed its a priced acquisition. Mind you its highly addictive.

First installment of the 3-part animation film based on the series is released earlier this year. Take a look at the trailer here.

Norwegian Wood

       There are some authors who bank on meticulous research for their stories. Then there are authors who believe imagination to be their main strength. Murakami is a kind of author who doesn't want to spoil his imagination by going to the places he wants to write about. Haruki Murakami, theatre arts major, suddenly had the inspiration to write his first novel while watching a baseball game. With Norwegian wood, Murakami tasted unprecedented success. Success which shocked him and put him into depression to some extent. To avoid the craziness of his super stardom, he had to flee Japan for a few years.

       Norwegian Wood is a love story, amidst student movement, set in late 1960's. The story has all the elements- tenderness, passion, longing and loss, to make a perfect youthful love story. Quirky humour and casual conversation between the characters about varied topics like books, music, sex and weather makes this book an interesting read.

       Norwegian wood, named against a Beatles song, listening to which the protagonist Toru Watanabe's memories take him back to his student days and his first love Naoko. Naoko is his best friend kizuki's girlfriend. Their relationship is complicated, which Toru himself finds it difficult to explain at times. To make things even more complicated, enters a vibrant girl Midori into Toru's life. Reiko and Nagasawa friends of Naoko and Toru respectively make up other interesting characters. All the characters are different and complex, yet so similar and simple. Rest of the story is about the choice Toru has to make between the two women in his life.

       One can find a lot of symbolism in Murakami's style of writing. One such, which is interesting is, after a steamy eventful night Naoko disappears from Toru's life. Later, one night, Toru sets free a firefly from a bottle, which is a gift from his roommate. As the insect flies, Toru muses, "Long after the firefly had disappeared, the trail of its light remained inside me, its pale, faint glow hovering on and on in the thick darkness behind my eyelids like a lost soul", a metaphor, which perfectly describes  Toru's longing for Naoko.

       Jay Rubin has done a commendable job of translating it into English. Independent on Sunday rightly puts it as "This book is undeniably hip".

PS :- When I was going through my old files I found this review which I had written some four years back. Norwegian Wood is the second Murakami book I had read then after Wild Sheep Chase.

My Petty Treasure

Satya sai's wealth was still a national debate and media was speculating the actual numbers. Soon came the news of Padmanabha swamy temple's treasure. Still one chamber is to be opened. This incredible wealth could buy nations or eradicate poverty for a change. Mere seeing the pictures of Padmanabha swamy's wealth in chain mails made me go dizzy. It was so overwhelming that even I wanted to open some treasure desperately. Off I went to open the only treasure I have, some petty coins I have collected since childhood. Not very long ago I had added some coins from my brother's collection. I was not very familiar with the recent additions. So here I was looking at each coin carefully and dreaming how Padmanabha swamy temple officials would chase me to exchange the coins with the temple's  treasures and how I would refuse. Nice dream !!

Most of my collection is made of coins from 80's and 90's. Some of pre-independence era. Few international coins and one or two dating back to 1850's East India Company coins. one coin has Urdu or Arabic all over it and I cannot make head or tail out it.

One particular coin left me clueless. Looking at it gives an ancient feel to it. Date is not there, if it was there it is completely wiped out. Script on it is Devanagari but nothing is readable. Portrayals on it resembled Hindu rulers. So I expected it to be a pre-British era coin. I wanted to know more about it and I couldn't keep it out of my mind. After one or two days when I was discussing coins with my friends this came up. One friend when he saw it next day, suggested it could be a coin from Nepal. Hence my search started with Nepal coins. There were many interesting coins but nothing similar came out. I went back to my original assumption and started looking in pre-British era coins. List was too big to search from. Nothing was remotely matching and it was leading nowhere. I had to change my search strategy. Took a long look at the coin and typed what I was seeing, `person holding trishul`, `Shiva with trishul` and some other combinations. Some of the search combinations lead me back to Nepal coins. But that was not what I was looking for. I flipped the coin where it had four persons. So guessing wildly I typed `coins with Rama and his brothers`. Bingo!! It led me to what I was looking but not exactly the same. It was an Aha moment and I was amazed to see what I was looking for. I would have definitely refused to exchange the coin for world's treasures at that moment.

So what I had with me was a coin or sometimes called temple token known as Rama Tanka. I started to like this name as well. It is Rama and Lakshmana on one side which I had mistook for Shiva and Parvathi looking at what looked like a Trishul. On the other side it is the Rama darbar. I had not at all noticed the Hanuman until I looked at the pictures. Stupid of me to have missed it.

Rama Tanka is supposed to be worshipped  in Hindu households to celebrate the legend of Rama and passed on to next generations. There are genuine ancient coins and modern reproductions. Mine looks like a modern reproduction, but I am not sure. I had never seen a Rama Tanka or heard about it before. When I searched for Rama Tanka I could find a very similar coin to that of mine. I am still clueless about the exact date when this was minted and I have no idea how to figure it out also. On the whole, Searching wildly without knowing what I had with me and discovering it as Rama Tanka was a liberating experience.

Referred links:
http://www.coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_coin=521&main_ct_id=54
http://psrraju1953.blogspot.com/2010/09/rama-tanka-coins-hstory.html

Jai Ho Doordarshan

Those were the days when TV watching was celebrated. I can reminisce about those times very fondly. I stumbled upon this website which took me back in time and even after coming back the sweet memories are still lingering. For all those DD fans out there this one is sure to bring back the memories. You'll find everything
about DD here commercials, serials and what not. Thanks a ton for those of you, who are maintaining the site.  http://ddnational.blogspot.com/

I still remember vividly. My first brush with TV happened on an unfortunate day of 30th Oct 1984. Mrs Indira Gandhi was shot and children were let off from schools. I didn't know who Indira Gandhi was and I must say I was happy. There was excitement in the air about the live telecast of the proceedings. My brother
who is 10 years elder to me and his friends were planning to go 3 colonies away to watch television in a doctors house who was treating my mother. I happily and silently tagged along. There was already huge crowd, all unknown faces. With my brother's lobbying we could get in after Maneuvering through the crowd. My expectation was to see Mrs Gandhi being shot but all I could see was only people and glimpse of demised PM. I was disappointed.

Within a years time we bought a brand new TV. We were the first in our locality to buy a TV. Dynora black and white. Initially it took some time to get a hang of what’s going on. We would gather before the telecast time and watch from the National DD signature

http://ddnational.blogspot.com/search/label/DD%20National%20Signature

Most of the times we ended up watching all the boring programmes. News was the first thing we were hooked on to, then we caught up with 9PM serials. From then on the pattern of TV watching kept changing based on the programmes aired, nevertheless we were hooked.

Sunday’s were truly exciting times and lived upto the expectation of a  holiday. Now it’s cliche to say but still it is Ramayan which caught the imagination of the masses. Started witnessing the crowds that I mentioned earlier in our house itself . The hall which could accommodate 20 people would be filled by 40 people and
we kids used to sit lap on lap in a window opposite to the TV. That was our balcony seat. More than Ramayan it was the anticipation of watching and the congregation that excited me. The scene would be similar for Vikram-bethal followed by  Sunday evening Hindi movie.

After Ramayan our kid gang was eager to watch He-man, Mickey mouse, Duck tales, Ek do teen char, spiderman, Indradhanush. No other program series has brought out the feeling of patriotism in me than Param vir chakra till now. We kids were amazed by the valour and sacrifice shown by these great soldiers. After watching we kids used go out and enact the war and shooting stuff. Used to be such fun. Thanks to Chetan and Ketan Anand for this brilliant one. Don’t want to say anything about the theme song. Just listen..

http://ddnational.blogspot.com/search/label/Param%20Vir%20Chakra

Watching news for hearing impaired was fun and we used imitate the lady. I also liked the stone boy theme. Not to mention Mahabharat, Malgudi days, Dada dadi ki kahaniyan , Nukkad, Yeh jo hai Zindagi and many many more...

Commercials were a huge hit with us. Cinkara, Dabur chaywanprash, Dinesh suitings, Digjam Rasna, Vicco, Vicks, Vimal  and many more. Kapil was a national favorite and palmolive ka jawab nahin is my personal favorite.  Repeating the catch lines was a favorite pass time.

Unlike todays glamourous and biased news presenters we had Salma sultana with only one expression for any news. Personalities like Narrotham Puri, Siddhartha Basu, Anuradha podwal, Shekhar Kapur, Arun Govil, Deepika, Dara Singh, Gavaskar, Puneet Issar, Master Manjunath were all household names

My grandmother was a true TV buff, she always tried to duplicate the cinema environment in our house. She used to fry sunflower seeds and salt them. For all prime time programs these were shared with any body who had patience to munch them while watching TV. In summers it was Musk melon and Water melon seeds. One
should see with how much patience she used to collect, clean and  dry them. Always house almost looked like a theatre after the crowd left. Occasionally it used be groundnuts. Rarely we used to serve rasna which in itself was a daunting task.

to be continued....

Testing the waters

Plan to get back after long hiatus